Future film buffs on hand for Dalston Children’s Festival

Fostering a love of film: teens decide film selection ahead of Dalston Children's Festival

In the run up to the inaugural Dalston Children’s Festival next month, a group of local teenagers have been meeting each week to decide on which films to show.

The film club is part of Dalston People’s Cinema, run by Lydia Fraser-Ward and Jim Dummett of Lost Picture Show, for young people aged 12-17. The idea is for a selection of the films watched, discussed and enjoyed to make up the festival’s film programme.

This crash course in film begins with Lydia and Jim pitching the week’s film choices to the group with accompanying trailers, and allowing the youngsters to vote on what they would like to watch.

After the film a discussion takes place about what they thought about it, the likelihood of it working in a public space, its cinematic qualities and whether other people their age would like it too.

There’s an element of “quality control from our end” Lydia told me, with each week split into categories such as comedy, documentary, drama, and animation.

The young people were asked at the beginning of the project to name their favourite films, which were subsequently purchased to add to the collection of films pitched to them.

“They’re surprising us with what they’re interested in” Jim said, with anything from Lord of the Rings to Japanese Anime, to Bugsy Malone and a 70s Walther Mattau film Bad News Bears all suggested. Duck Soup was even an option for comedy week.

It has been a real Hackney love-in, too, with Jim tipping his hat to the Rio Cinema for their support, after a field trip was organised there for the group to watch the new Sam Raimi film, Oz The Great and Powerful.

For most of the teenagers it was an introduction to one of Dalston’s favourite institutions. The project has also been made possible by funding from the council, as well as the Community Pilot Fund from the BFI through Film London.

With a pop-up cinema in the square, lighting festooned on trees and blankets and cushions aplenty, they hope the sense of occasion Lost Picture Show has brought to festivals such as Glastonbury, the Big Chill and Bestival, will be present as well at Dalston Square on the evenings of 25 May and 1 June when they seek visually to baptise this public space with the help of their new group of young film followers.